Coast guard officials have detained 23 illegal immigrants on the island of Santorini.The immigrants, all men, were detained on Thursday after arriving on the island in a wooden fishing boat from neighboring Turkey, authorities were reported as saying.

Hellas will clear up its border areas ahead of schedule, minister tells NGO

Deputy Defense Minister Vassilis Michaloliakos yesterday pledged to accelerate an initiative to remove anti-personnel mines along the Turkish border where dozens of illegal immigrants have been killed over the past decade. Greece will have finished clearing its mines “much earlier” than the 2014 deadline stipulated in the Ottawa anti-land mine convention, Michaloliakos said, following a meeting with representatives of the International Campaign to Ban Land Mines in Athens.

Border guards in Kastoria yesterday arrested three Albanians trying to smuggle more than 60 kilos of hash into Hellas. Another three Albanians eluded arrest, according to police, who confiscated four bags containing the drugs.

The way in which Greece intends to ratify the European Constitution is yet another sign of the so-called democratic deficit bedeviling EU affairs.We need not underscore the significance of the treaty for the future of our country and Europe in general. Nevertheless,Greece is expected to give the green light through an ordinary parliamentary session amid a striking absence of public discussion on the issue.

Greeks know very little about the EU’s constitutional treaty.Their ignorance is not because they do not care about community affairs,but because the domestic political system and the media did not want to spark a debate on the issue.The same thing happened with other landmark decisions,such as the ratification of the Maastricht Treaty,Greece’s accession to the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) and,more recently,the scrapping of Athens’ longstanding objections to Ankara’s European ambitions.

On all these crucial issues,the political class made its decisions behind closed doors.The populace was never asked its opinion but was instead kept on the sidelines.The ratification of the landmark charter presented the government with a unique opportunity to break with this negative tradition and to make a new start.

The conservative administration of Costas Karamanlis chose the beaten track,following a tradition of an executive power that is allergic to referendums.It is worth noting that neither the ruling party nor the parties of the opposition,which had pressed for a public vote on the issue,ever really tried to initiate any public debate on the issue.

The French referendum on the constitution will give people here an opportunity to learn more about the proposed treaty.A French “no” vote would send shock waves across the continent.However,the fact that big European governments have decided to put the issue to referendum — without any guarantees of a positive verdict — should be a cause for serious concern at home.

...In one of the draft law’s most controversial elements, migrants who spend an uninterrupted period of five years living in Greece legally can have their residence permit renewed automatically, subject to a naturalization exam during which applicants will be tested on the Greek language, history and culture — in which the state will previously provide free lessons. A panel of officials will also evaluate migrants’ “morals and character.” It was not clear what would be used in the evaluation process.

Pavlopoulos said that once the law goes into effect, probably by the start of 2006, an amnesty on illegal immigrants in Greece is likely to be declared so that they can obtain legal papers. It is thought that there are some 400,000 illegal migrants in the country.

A British couple living in Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus lost an appeal yesterday against a court decision to demolish their retirement home as it was illegally built on Greek-Cypriot property.

The decision has wider legal ramifications, with thousands of Britons and other European Union nationals having bought land in the island’s north that originally belonged to Greek Cypriots.

Lawyers for Linda and David Orams had argued that the property was bought in good faith, but this was done without the consent of the owner, a Greek-Cypriot refugee now living in the south of the island.

The court upheld a November ruling that the home be demolished and damages be paid to owner Meletis Apostolides, citing rulings by the European Court of Human Rights that Greek-Cypriot refugees — who number some 200,000 people — are “the only true and lawful owners” of their land...

A British couple living in Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus lost an appeal yesterday against a court decision to demolish their retirement home as it was illegally built on Greek-Cypriot property.

The decision has wider legal ramifications, with thousands of Britons and other European Union nationals having bought land in the island’s north that originally belonged to Greek Cypriots.

Lawyers for Linda and David Orams had argued that the property was bought in good faith, but this was done without the consent of the owner, a Greek-Cypriot refugee now living in the south of the island.

The court upheld a November ruling that the home be demolished and damages be paid to owner Meletis Apostolides, citing rulings by the European Court of Human Rights that Greek-Cypriot refugees — who number some 200,000 people — are “the only true and lawful owners” of their land...

Great news for our Cypriot brothers.
Funny but only yesterday I watched a documentary about the Hellas -turkey issues.
(Mega channel "Staurolekso")
There was also a reference to the case of Meletis Apostolidis. Nice to see that he has finally been cleared and the land has returned to the rightfull owner, I hope that now the doors are open for the rest of the lands to also return to the rightfull owners.
To bad for the Brits that hoped on making a profit on other people's land